IK Mulitimedia ILoud Micro Monitor Pro

[RobL]

I just bought a pair of these and I had some time today to play with them a bit. I have to say that I’m actually quite impressed. I also have a pair of the original micros and they are great but these seem an improvement to me. The way the center image “snaps into focus” on these after calibration is kind of freaky. I had a pair of 8361A’s for a couple of years but GLM never gave me such a noticeable change vs. uncalibrated.
The XMonitor software is easy to utilize, but maybe a little too simplified for those that really like to tweak filters etc. There are A LOT of drop down menus with many presets for monitor positioning and various emulators for those of you mixing music. It’s fun to play with but I won’t probably change things much once I get them the way I want them.
They will play 90dB @ 1m with no issues so that’s all I need from them. They drop off a cliff below 50hz so most will want a sub, not sure if I’m going to bother. We’ll see.
Anyway, I got these on sale for CDN$550 (US$380) for the pair with the ARC mic.

 

[2020]

I don't wanna know what a "Pro STD" sounds like.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I also have a pair of the original micros and they are great but these seem an improvement to me.

I mean, they also cost twice as much when not on sale, so they better be! (Current Thomann pricing: 288/289€ vs. 598€.)

You might think that the MM Pros are just a shrunk-down MTM - and in some ways they might be, e.g. in terms of drivers - but the backside reveals some notable differences. USB-C may not be entirely unexpected, but the ARC mic now no longer connects via a separate 3.5mm jack and shares the input XLR instead.

BTW, how's the hiss (or lack thereof)? I vaguely remember some complaints about some high-frequency power supply noises or something with the original Micros?

 

[RobL]

I don't wanna know what a "Pro STD" sounds like.

Haha
It sounds like this:

Some of the emulations are obvious (White 80’s = NS10) but some, like this one, aren’t. Not sure why they included so many monitor emulations but I also don’t mix music etc. so I can’t speak about their utility.
The Smartphone emulation is a dead-ringer for my iPhone though.

 

[RobL]

I mean, they also cost twice as much when not on sale, so they better be! (Current Thomann pricing: 288/289€ vs. 598€.)

I guess I just find that flat monitors sound more similar than different. These are definitely better in several ways (room correction, more power, xlr connection etc). I want to say these also image better but I don’t have the other micros here to do a direct comparison so…

You might think that the MM Pros are just a shrunk-down MTM - and in some ways they might be, e.g. in terms of drivers - but the backside reveals some notable differences. USB-C may not be entirely unexpected, but the ARC mic now no longer connects via a separate 3.5mm jack and shares the input XLR instead.

BTW, how's the hiss (or lack thereof)? I vaguely remember some complaints about some high-frequency power supply noises or something with the original Micros?

I can hear no hiss until a few inches from the tweeter, my wife (who has better hearing than me) can hear hiss beginning about 1 foot from the tweeter. Interestingly she feel one has worse hiss than the other but I can’t hear any difference. Are they noisier than my 8361A’s were? Yes a little bit.

 

[lewdish]

I'm still waiting for someone to send a pair in for measurements to see how the improvements are, but in the mean time I'm deciding between this and the Adam D3V, I'm tryna decide between the two for a small room ultra nearfield monitor w/ no treatment. Is the F3 on the iLoud Micro Monitor Pro really in the high 30hz after room correction? I'm trying to decide if its worth the extra $250 over the D3V which have an f3 allegedly around 48hz.

 

[uwotm8]

between this and the Adam D3V

My bet - without listening to any of these! - is that Adam are perfect choice for casual music listening and MM Pro are better monitors (and might be very good for music for sure, but... no magic AMTs, I'd miss it).

I'd prefer getting normal size speakers still, 3" are acceptable as a travel/second system/Windows events dedicated speaker.

 

[RobL]

I'm still waiting for someone to send a pair in for measurements to see how the improvements are, but in the mean time I'm deciding between this and the Adam D3V, I'm tryna decide between the two for a small room ultra nearfield monitor w/ no treatment. Is the F3 on the iLoud Micro Monitor Pro really in the high 30hz after room correction? I'm trying to decide if its worth the extra $250 over the D3V which have an f3 allegedly around 48hz.

Don’t expect much output below 50Hz from the iLoud’s. They will play louder than the D3V’s, if that matters to you, and the room correction/emluation software works quite well. I got them on sale so the price difference was smaller. The D3V’s look pretty attractive at that price now that Adam has addressed the “treble gate” issue.

 

[lewdish]

Don’t expect much output below 50Hz from the iLoud’s. They will play louder than the D3V’s, if that matters to you, and the room correction/emluation software works quite well. I got them on sale so the price difference was smaller. The D3V’s look pretty attractive at that price now that Adam has addressed the “treble gate” issue.

Yeah I saw people had low signal issues earlier, but the new firmware seems to have patched it. Is the bass output not any better even after Room EQ on the iLoud?

 

[RobL]

Yeah I saw people had low signal issues earlier, but the new firmware seems to have patched it. Is the bass output not any better even after Room EQ on the iLoud?

I am playing around with them tonight and just going off the bar graph on the front of my RME Adi-2 they play pretty flat to under 45hz with bass notes still audible at 40hz…I guess pretty much what Xmonitor shows, lol.
I’ll measure them with REW when I get a chance and see if it agrees with Xmonitor’s corrected response.

 

[RobL]

Yeah I saw people had low signal issues earlier, but the new firmware seems to have patched it. Is the bass output not any better even after Room EQ on the iLoud?

I did a few moving microphone measurements at the mlp in my room using REW.
Uncorrected:

Corrected:

Looks like in both that the lower corner freq is around 45hz.

 

[lewdish]

I did a few moving microphone measurements at the mlp in my room using REW.
Uncorrected:
View attachment 437335

Corrected:
View attachment 437337


Looks like in both that the lower corner freq is around 45hz.

Looks like its gonna be somewhat on a competitive class w/ the D3V in terms of overall w/ being able to reach a few hz lower. I think its nice that its able to also flatten out some of the upper highs as well.